Mayfield Fund, a venture capital firm with a 55-year history, recently announced the launch of a project named AI Garage, dedicated to supporting startups aiming to create "AI companion" companies, with a total budget of up to $100 million.
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Navin Chaddha, Managing Partner at Mayfield, stated that this new initiative aims to help early-stage entrepreneurs transform their ideas into fundable companies, further expanding Mayfield's "Entrepreneur in Residence" (EIR) program that has been in place for the past four decades.
Unlike other accelerators such as YC or some pre-seed programs, AI Garage seeks to differentiate itself structurally. Mayfield plans to recruit up to five aspiring entrepreneurs every six months to receive guidance and support within the company's office. Chaddha emphasized that while participants will not immediately receive funding at the outset, Mayfield will provide support ranging from $1 million to $5 million once their business plans are formulated.
Chaddha mentioned that Mayfield chose to formalize and expand the EIR program primarily to engage with AI application startups early, especially in the "AI companion" domain. He explained that AI companions are not just simple assistants; they can collaborate with humans to complete complex tasks. In other words, AI companions are digital companions that can elevate human capabilities to superhuman levels, leading us into a new era of collaborative intelligence.
Although terms like "companion," "assistant," and "agent" can be somewhat interchangeable, Chaddha believes that referring to AI applications as "companions" is more humanizing in marketing. Chaddha further pointed out that AI companions have endless opportunities to collaborate with humans, driving future developments in the workplace across various fields including product and engineering, data, sales and marketing, customer service, IT and security, finance, human resources, legal, and administration.
It is worth noting that Mayfield has already invested in nearly ten AI companion companies, including DevRev (customer service support AI), Docket (AI sales engineer), and NeuBird (site reliability AI engineer). Take NeuBird as an example; its AI can assist human site reliability engineers in detecting site failures and handling issues promptly. If the AI cannot resolve the issue, it will also contact human engineers for assistance, embodying the true meaning of "companion."
Key Points:
🌟 Mayfield launches the AI Garage project to support startups creating "AI companion" companies, with a budget of up to $100 million.
🤝 Participants will receive funding support ranging from $1 million to $5 million after their business plans are formulated, helping them transform their ideas into funded projects.
🚀 AI companions are considered digital companions capable of collaborating with humans, driving developments in multiple industries' workplaces.